X-Files Star Gillian Anderson Cast in NBC's Hannibal Pilot

The X-Files star has been cast in NBC's serial-killer thrilled Hannibal, which centers on Silence of the Lambs villain Dr. Hannibal Lecter in his prime, E! News has confirmed.

The project's creator, Pushing Daises executive producer Bryan Fuller, shared the good news on Twitter by posting a photo of Anderson, simply captioned "CAST." In a fun twist, Anderson will be playing psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter's (Mads Mikkelsen) therapist in a multi-episode arc, reports Entertainment Weekly, who broke the news of Anderson's casting.

"Every therapist needs their own head examined and we are ecstatic that Gillian Anderson has chosen Hannibal to mark her return to American television after 10 years to portray Dr. Lecter's personal psychiatrist," Fuller says in a statement. "Her intelligence and sophistication, not to mention her pedigree of ground-breaking TV, make her the perfect actress to match wits and psychological manipulations with one of the greatest villains of pop culture. I couldn't be more excited."

Hannibal marks Anderson's first broadcast TV role in almost a decade; she recently appeared in Encore's Moby Dick and the British TV series The Fall since The X-Files wrapped in 2002.

The project also stars Hugh Dancy, Laurence Fishburne, Eddie Izzard, Molly Shannon and Gina Torres and is expected to debut in the spring, though no official premiere date has been set.